Report: UNLV hiring former Arkansas and Louisville coach Bobby Petrino as OC

Former Arkansas and Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino is making his return to the top level of college football.

According to ESPN, Petrino will be the new offensive coordinator at UNLV. The Rebels are now coached by former Missouri head coach Barry Odom after Marcus Arroyo was fired at the end of the 2022 season.

Petrino, 61, has spent the past three seasons as the head coach at FCS Missouri State. The Bears went 5-5 in 2020 before an 8-4 season in 2021. Missouri State was 5-6 in 2022 and failed to make the playoffs after qualifying for the postseason in each of his first two seasons.

Odom had been the defensive coordinator at Arkansas for the past three seasons and his defense faced Petrino’s offense in 2022. Missouri State gave the Razorbacks a scare in Week 3 and had a 27-17 lead with just over 12 minutes to go. But Arkansas scored three touchdowns to close the game out and won, 38-27.

Former Utah quarterback Jason Shelley threw for 357 yards in that game for Missouri State.

Petrino went 77-35 over two stints with Louisville and was 34-17 at Arkansas. He also has been the main character in some of college football’s most infamous moments. He left the Cardinals in January of 2007 less than six months after signing a 10-year contract to take a job with the Atlanta Falcons.

Petrino coached at Arkansas through the 2011 season. He was involved in a motorcycle crash in April of 2012 while a female Arkansas student staffer rode with him. Petrino was soon fired after the crash after it was discovered that the married Petrino and the staffer were in a relationship.

After spending 2012 out of college football, Petrino was hired at Western Kentucky in 2013. The Hilltoppers went 8-4 and that was good enough for him to get a second chance at Louisville in 2014. After four seasons of eight wins or more, Louisville went 2-8 in 2018 and Petrino was fired with two games to go in the regular season.